Toy gasoline pump



Nov. 3, 1936. w. J. PFLAUM TOY GASOLINE PUMP Filed Feb. l5, 1936 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 3, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

My invention relates to a toy, and more particularly to a toy gasoline pump.

The toy is a miniature of the large gasoline dispensers used in automobile service stations. The toy is relatively small; in this case the toy is six inches in height, whereas the gasoline dispenser it simulates is from six to eight feet in overall height. The toy includes an electrically lighted globe, a dry-cell battery for energizing the light, a dial, and two indexes, a bell or gong, and mechanism for rotating the indexes and sounding the gong upon each revolution of one of the indexes.

The invention consists, first, in a particularly effective organization of the above-recited elements in the relatively small vertical body of a toy gasoline pump; and, second, in a simplified and inexpensive mechanism for rotating the indexes and sounding the gong.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. I is a view in front elevation of a toy pump embodying the invention; Fig. II is a sectional view of the same, taken on the plane IIII of Fig. I; Fig. III is a fragmentary, sectional view of the pump, taken on the plane IIIIII of Fig. II; Fig. IV is a view'in elevation of a particular element of the structure; and Fig. V is a fragmentary view, showing a portion of the dial-rotating mechanism to larger scale, and in elevation on the plane VV of Fig. II.

Referring to the drawing, the toy comprises a vertical body or housing I of rectangular crosssection. The front wall and the two side walls of the body are fashioned of a single rectangular piece of light gauge sheet metal-say sheet steel-bent into a sharp cornered U-shape in section, and the back wall is formed in two pieces 2 and 3, as may be seen in Fig. II. A top 4 and a base 5 are pressed from sheet metal and assembled with the body I, by means of the usual tongue-and-slot fastenings (6) known to the art.

As a matter of fact, the toy in this case is not adapted to dispense liquid, but the flexible hose of the standard gasoline pump is in appearance duplicated in my structure by means of a small rubber tube I. The inner end of tube I is secured in an'orifice in one of the side walls of the housing I; a nozzle I3 is carried by the outer end of the tube; and an orifice 9 is provided in the side wall, whereby the nozzle may be removably secured to the body of the pump, as indicated in Figs. I and III.

A dial II! is provided on the front wall of the housing, and two indexes II and I; are rotatable over the face of such dial. One rotation of the small index II indicates the imaginary output of one gallon through the tube I, and each complete rotation of index II is effective to advance the normally stationary index I2 from one calibration on the dial to the next. That is, the smaller index indicates units, while the larger totals the units. Within the housing and adjacent its top 4, a gong I3 is mounted, in this case by means of a rivet I4 secured in the wall of the housing, and means are provided for rotating the indexes II and I2, and for automatically ringing the gong each time that the index I I moves, during such rotation, through 360 degrees. That is to say, the gong rings each time that an imaginary gallon is dispensed.

The larger index I2, is secured to the outer end of a tubular rivet I5; the rivet is rotatable in the front wall of the housing I, and carries at its inner end, within the housing, a wheel I6 provided with radial teeth I! (Fig. V). The rivet I5 unites the index I2 and wheel I6 for common rotation, and secures such index and wheel in frictional engagement with the opposite faces of the front wall of the housing, whereby substantial rotative stress is required to turn them. The smaller index II, together with a wheel I8, is in like manner secured to the front wall of housing I by means of a hollow rivet I9, and, as shown in Fig. V, the bore of the hollow rivet is of general elliptical shape for cooperation (as will appear below) with index-rotating mechanism. The wheel I8 carries a single tooth 2!], outstanding from the face of the wheel, as shown in Fig. II. When the wheel I8 is rotated (note Fig. V), the tooth 20 swings into lateral engagement with the lowermost tooth I! of wheel I6 and carries the wheel I6 through an are equal to the circumferential center-to-center distance between successive teeth I'I. That is to say, for each rotation of the wheel I8 the normally idle wheel I6 is advanced through one-tenth (there being ten teeth IT on wheel I6) of a revolution. Thus, each complete rotation of the index II is accompanied by a fractional rotation of the index I2 from one of the dial calibrations (0 to 10) to the next, and it will be manifest that, by setting the index I2 to 0 at the start of each indexrotating operation, the index I2 will total the number of rotations made by the index I I; that is, the index I2 vwill total the number of imaginary gallons of gasoline dispensed, while the index II will indicate fractional parts of a gallon in excess of such total.

The mechanism for rotating the wheel I8 comprises a crank member, pivotally mounted at 2| in the rear wall 2 of the housing. The crank member includes a hand-crank portion 2 la lying without the housing, and an inner crank portion 2lb lying within the housing. The crank member includes a flattened tip 2|c lying within the above-mentioned elliptical orifice in rotary rivet Hi, to which rivet the index I l and wheel I8 are secured for common rotation. Accordingly, manual rotation of the crank portion 21a effects the positive rotation of the Wheel l8 and the index II, and the two indexes II and I2 are moved over the dial H] in the manner described.

It will be observed in Fig. V that the tooth 20 on wheel l8 lies 90 angular degrees from alignment with the index ll. As may be readily visualized, when the index II is (by rotation of the crank member) set at 0, the tooth 20 on wheel I8 lies below the lowermost tooth IT on wheel IS. The frictional engagement of the wheel l6 against the inner face of housing I normally resists unintentional idle rotation of index l2, but such index may be manually turned against such resistance and set at on the dial Ill.

The device for sounding the gong I3 comprises a member 22 formed of resilient wire in the shape indicated in Fig. III. The member 22 includes a loop or eye 22a at its upper end, through which the rivet I4 extends, affording support for both the gong l3 and the gong-striking member 22. The foot 221) of the striker is bent downward, and extends into the circular path followed by the portion 2lb of the crank member, and, during a fraction of the rotation of the crank member, such crank portion 2 lb engages the foot 221) (Fig. III) and forces it downward or away from the face of the gong. As such crank rotation continues, the crank portion 2| 1) swings free from the tip of the depressed foot 221), whereupon the flexed wire 22 springs upward and strikes sharply against the peripheral edge of the gong. In this manner the gong is sounded once during each rotation of the crank member. And the parts are so proportioned and organized that the sounding of the gong occurs during each fractional rotation of the index I2, or each time that the rotating index I l approaches zero position on the dial Ill.

It will be understood that the crank member is in reality a double or twin crank-a crank member including an outer crank portion 2la and an inner crank portion 2|b. The outer crank portion 2Ia provides for manual operation of the moving elements of the toy, and the inner crank portion 2H3 may be considered a rotary off-center or eccentric element cooperating with the resilient device 22 for sounding the gong in coordination with the rotation of index II.

In known manner an electric lamp 23 is mounted in the top 4 of the toy housing, and a cylindrical dry-cell battery 24 is mounted on end on the base or floor of such housing. The back wall portion 3 of the housing is removable to admit of the introduction of the dry-cell, and the central terminal 26 of the dry-cell extends through and in isolation from the floor 5. In known way a switch-arm 25 is pivotally secured to the nether face of fioor 5, and the distal end of the switch-arm may be thrown to and from engagement with the terminal 26 of the dry-cell. Electric communication is established from drycell terminal 25, through the switch-arm and metal body of housing I, to the side terminal 21 of the electric lamp 23. And communication from the basal terminal 28 of the lamp to the bottom of the dry-cell is established by means of a conductor wire or strip 29. Thus, an energizing circuit for the lamp is provided, and such circuit is subject to the control of switch-arm 25.

The particular structure and organization of the conductor strip 29 are noteworthy. Such strip is made of resilient metal, and is threaded through two orifices 30 in a supporting plate 3| of fibre board, or other rigid or sernirigid insulating material, as shown in Figs. III and IV. The plate 3| includes at its upper edge two ears 32, severally supported in slots 33 formed in the front and back walls of the housing I. The conductor strip 29, thus supported by the plate 3| and insulated from the housing I is so particularly fashioned that it vertically bridges the index-rotating and gong-ringing mechanism which is located below the lamp 23 and above the drycell 24. This advantageous organization may be appreciated in Fig. III.

Manifestly, many variations from the abovedescribed structure may within the skill of the mechanic be made without departing from the invention.

In claim as my invention:

1. A toy gasoline pump including a housing, a gong, a dial, an index rotatable relatively to said dial, means rotatable for eifecting said relative rotation, said means including a rotary crank element and an eccentric element, and means cooperating with said eccentric element for intermittently sounding said gong in predetermined coordination with the rotation of said index relatively to said dial.

2. A toy gasoline pump including a housing, an electric light mounted at the top of said housing, a dial, an index rotatable relatively to said dial, mechanism mounted in said housing for effecting such relative rotation, a dry-cell battery mounted in said housing for energizing said light, and an electric conductor insulated from said housing and extending from one terminal of said light to one terminal of said battery in bridging relation with respect to said mechanism.

3. A toy gasoline pump including a vertical housing, an electric light mounted at the top of said housing, a dial, a rotary index, a gong within said housing, means within said housing for efiecting rotation of the index relatively to said dial and for intermittently sounding said gong, and a dry-cell battery mounted on end Within said housing and electrically connected to said light, and a switch operable at the bottom of said housing for opening and closing the electrical connections between said battery and light.

4. A toy gasoline pump or the like including a housing, a dial, two indexes rotatable on said dial, a toothed wheel secured Within said housing to the axis of one index, a crank accessible externally of said housing for rotating the other index, and means within said housing cooperating with said wheel for effecting a fractional rotation of the first index for every complete rotation of the second index.

5. A toy gasoline pump or the like including a housing, a dial, two indexes rotatable on said dial, a toothed wheel secured within said housing to the axis of one index, a crank accessible externally of said housing for rotating the other index, means within said housing cooperating with said wheel for effecting a fractional rota-' tion of the first index for every complete r0tation of the second index, a gong mounted in said housing, and means responsive to crank rotation for sounding said gong with each fractional rotation of the first index.

6. A toy gasoline pump including a housing, a dial, an index rotatable relatively to said dial, means including a crank accessible externally of said housing for effecting such relative rotation, a gong, a gong-striking device, and means operative in response to rotation of said crank and cooperating With said gong-striking device for intermittently sounding said gong in definite coordination with the rotation of said index relatively to said dial.

WILLIAM J. PFLAUM. 

